Benjamin H. Diessel

Ben is a Partner in Wiggin and Dana’s Litigation Department, a co-chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Consumer Protection Practice Group, and a founding member of the firm’s Standard Essential Patent Licensing and Litigation Practice Group. He is also a member of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group, Securities Litigation Practice Group, and the White Collar Defense, Investigations and Corporate Compliance Practice Group.

Ben is an experienced attorney who has devoted his practice to helping clients navigate a broad range of complex legal issues, including antitrust litigation and advising, intellectual property litigation and licensing, commercial litigation, securities litigation, and regulatory matters. Ben has successfully developed and executed strategies in coordination with clients, experts, and consultants in complex matters involving significant monetary stakes for companies such as Qualcomm, Panasonic, Accenture, IBM, Xerox, Credit Suisse and a range of other companies of all sizes.

Ben’s experience and technical background in computer science & engineering have made him well suited to assist clients in litigation and strategic matters involving cutting edge technology and/or intellectual property issues. Ben’s experience in this area includes representing leading technology companies in litigation and licensing matters related to standard essential patents (“SEPs”) and commitments to standards development organizations (“SDOs”) such as ETSI to license SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (“FRAND”) terms.

Ben has substantial experience litigating and advising clients on a range of antitrust and related issues. Ben recently represented Qualcomm in its litigation with Apple in federal court and the International Trade Commission in defending the company against Apple’s antitrust claims. Ben also recently represented the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Connecticut in successfully defending the state’s Liquor Control Act against a Sherman Act challenge in litigation spanning the federal trial court, Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and U.S. Supreme Court. Ben routinely counsels clients in connection with prospective corporate transactions to assess and manage antitrust risk related to potential regulatory reporting and to establish best practices for due diligence information flow (such as establishing and executing “clean team” protocols). Ben also regularly counsels clients concerning pricing matters, including reviewing and developing pricing strategies and minimum advertising price (“MAP”) policies.

Ben’s litigation experience has also covered a broad range of other subject matters including commercial contracts and transactions, securities, patents, copyright, trade secret, commercial real estate, 1782 discovery, employment matters, and a range of other issues. Ben has experience litigating in federal and state court in New York and Connecticut other federal courts around the country. Ben also has experience arbitrating and mediating complex disputes.

Ben is a proud member of the South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut.

Before joining Wiggin and Dana, Ben practiced in New York at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, where he represented multinational companies in complex litigation and regulatory matters.

Ben received his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was Articles Editor for the Michigan Law Review. Ben earned his M.S. and B.S. degrees in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Following graduation from law school, Ben clerked for Judge Ronald M. Gould of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Prior to attending law school, Ben worked as a software engineer for a startup company and at Ford Motor Company.